High Stake Exams With Byod At The University Of Porto: Bypassing Constraints

Abstract

University of Porto (U.PORTO) is a traditional higher education institution with more than 30 000 students enrolled. Nine years ago, the first final exam using computer was conducted with quite success through Moodle's quiz activity. Since 2009 the technical conditions and infrastructure were improved in such a way that we've found difficulties increasing the number of exams taking place. This year alone more than 15 000 quiz submissions were made on the first semester. Actually, these constraints - an indirect indicator of our success - were a result of mainly two factors: on the one hand a policy decision to shorten the assessment calendar, on the other hand a low ratio of computers per student, especially at some Schools. Therefore, facing the uncertainty of a considerable investment on computers but also watching the rising number of students owning a laptop, the Education Technologies unit decided to go on the path of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) concerning computer-based assessment. So in a careful and sustainable way - this is after all a moment of extreme importance for all stakeholders, especially for the students involved - four courses from two different Schools embraced this methodology. This paper will discuss the requirements and implementation of this solution along with the methodology followed. Besides the logistics - clearly one of the most relevant aspects, despite non tech related - we will also show the results of one of the last exams on BYOD, the first at Sports School, which had some specificities, including two shifts and some students submitting on paper.